Free Forever
by Loudpeltwarrior
Summary: Free and the other campers fight for their lives against the son of Ares, but their doubts fade as a new hope shines.
1. Prologue

**PJO FANFIC**

**Love You to Death... Literally. **

**Prologue**

I sat with my friends on top of a bench, we were laughing and giggling like mad. This guy, somebody from the Apollo cabin... Or was it Hermes?... Well, whatever, he was throwing his challengers aside easily. You see, we were having this little competition between the cabins, it was a dueling competition. The rules were, you get hurt, your out for the rest of the day. I hadn't been challenged yet, and I really didn't care about this whole sparring thing, so I didn't really pay attention.

"Come ON, Free!" My friend giggled beside me. "You can slam this kid!" She smiled and giggled some more.

The rest of them nodded. "Totally." The said in unison.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

As if on cue, the guy walked up to me, a grin on his face. And, to my surprise, broke out in song. "_Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?_"

I smiled and rolled my eyes again. My friend OOOOOOOED around me. "Free, daughter of Athena." I responded cooly.

"_Hello, I love you, won't you step in my game?_" He sang, still grinning.

I took this as a challenge, so I stood. "Yeah, sure, whatever." I bent down and grabbed the silver circlet from my Ug boot. I immediately felt it grow heavy and balanced in my hand, a sword. The circlet was enchanted to appear on any pair of shoes I was wearing, I really loved my sword.

"Bring it, Song boy." I retorted.

And he did, he charged and immediately slashed at my sword side. Good move, but weird strategy.

I moved out of the way and swatted his sword away from me. This guy was soooooo not at my level.

He moved in, and tried to get at me. But my defense was excellent, I twirled my sword in my hand and slashed at his blade, knocking it back again. Gods, I need to get a life... Sorry, got off track, anyway...

Now, the move I was about to do is probably the stupidest move I've ever done, but I didn't know it would save my life then...

He slashed towards me, I slammed my blade into his and sent it flying towards his face.

Here it comes.... I sidestepped as he tried to get his sword balanced and decided to swing at me, and then, I slashed at him. This obviously took him by surprise, because he barely got out of the way, my sword grazed his side. Yes, the sidestep-slash move was the stupidest move ever, especially for a child of Athena. But hey, as I said before, it would save my life someday.

I whipped my sword forward and pointed it at his chest. "You lose." I said simply and lowered my sword.

He blinked and then smiled. "Good one." He turned and began to walk towards the Infirmary.

"Wait!" I shocked myself as I called out, "Who _are_ you?"

His grin broadened. "Foreman, Undetermined." And then he walked on.


	2. 2 Years Later

It was two years later, believe it or not, since that day in the arena... I was 13 then, 15 now. Free, the awesomest warrior in camp. Ha, what a joke. Well, I was, trust me, I could throw the most advanced Ares camper to the ground in one move. But I still had so much to learn, I wanted to fight, for real. There was no real battles, only idiot spars. I'd probably never feel the rush of adrenaline when you defeat a monster.

I slashed, ducked, and rolled as I pulverized a dummy. Chiron had given me special permission to practice the most difficult moves, he had even given me permission to create my own... Which was considered a really special privilege, but whatever. I jabbed forward and stabbed the dummy clean through. I could feel a rush of wind behind me and I whirled around.

Our blades clashed in midair. It was Foreman, as always. You see, we had sort of become friends over the past couple of years, he was a nice guy, so what can I say?... I advanced forward and pushed his sword back towards him, he slipped his blade out from under my sword and tried to get at my legs. I blocked the attack and tried to disarm him, which didn't work.

He slashed again, he got in dangerously close to my face.

I yelled and charged, I slammed my blade into the hilt of his sword and thrust to the side. His sword flew from his hand and skittered across the arena. I pointed my sword at his chest. "You lose." I smiled, good times, good times.

Foreman rolled his eyes and picked up his sword. "You won't be so lucky next time."

"Yeah, right. That's what you always say." I laughed. "Why don't you try a different weapon? You've used a sword for like ever, and your still not any better."

"Hey!" Without warning, he tackled me.

"Gah!" I slammed my elbow into his chest and he rolled out of the way.

He groaned and got to his feet. "Eh, next time I'll plan that better."

I grinned. "You can try." I pushed myself up and onto my feet and walked over to the sample table. I pulled a knife off the table and threw it to him.

He caught it at the last moment, it's tip almost piercing his ear. "Okay, woah." He blinked.

I smiled. "Come at me, Song boy. Let's see your knife skills."

"Hey, wait a sec, knife against sword? That's not fair." Foreman shook his head. "I can't get at you."

"And that's a bad thing?" I raised an eyebrow. "Only the quick and clever can use a knife. Yeah, a knife's defense is easy to penetrate, but it can get in close and deliver deadly strikes."

Foreman still looked uneasy but he nodded reluctantly. "Fine."

"You get first blow." I nodded to him and kept my sword at the ready.

He charged, and I immediately fell into defense.

Okay, wait a sec, where the heck was he getting his knife skills from? Last I knew, he had always used a sword... Nevertheless, this was getting serious.

"Woah, dude!" I sidestepped as he jabbed under my sword. Thank gods I knew this move. I changed my grip to stab-mode and flipped my sword upside down, his attack bounced harmlessly off.

I had to block, slash, and roll about a million times. I had a feeling the knife fit him well. But then, he let his guard down for only a second... And I second was all I needed. I slammed my sword into his knife, this had always worked. The force would have made his blade fly out of his hand... But it didn't. Sparks flew as our blades collided. I stared, Oh. My. Gods.

Alright, crazy idea time. It had to work, it HAD too. I through his knife aside for a second, and let my guard down. Yeah, bad idea, but I was pretty sure if the timing was right, I would be able to do it.

He jabbed at my chest, and I ducked, grabbed the other ring off my other shoe and popped back up with two swords.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Foreman said as he tried to jab at me.

"Life isn't fair." I responded and easily blocked his strike, he jabbed and I ducked again, striking upwards and into the hilt of his knife. His weapon shot out of his hand and into the sky, it clattered to the ground.

I felt like saying 'You lose.' but I didn't. It wasn't a fair fight, I knew that, but I would've made a wrong move and gotten stabbed sooner or later.

He glared at me as he picked up the knife and set it back on the sample table. "Soooooo unfair."

"Do I look like I care?" I immediately regretted my words as they slipped out of my mouth. "I-"

"Oh, so you don't care now? What about 'Life isn't fair', huh?" Foreman had said all the right words, and I had said something utterly stupid.

"Look, that wasn't supposed to come out." I shot back at him.

"But you were thinking it, you said it wasn't supposed to come out." He slapped another glare at my face.

"Ugh! I'm sorry, alright?" I sighed.

A scream suddenly echoed through the air, our heads immediately turned towards each other and our gazes locked. I drew my sword and Foreman took the knife again. We ran towards the Big House, where the scream had come from. We sprinted up the steps and into the attic.

A crowd had gathered, I shoved my way to the front and was Pamela Shaffer, our Oracle, sprawled on the floor... Dead.


End file.
